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Live: Walmart Workers Protest Across the Country in Day of Action

Workers walk of the job in 15 cities after Walmart fails to meet worker demands

by

Jacob Chamberlain, staff writer

Walmart workers across the country are protesting nationwide on Thursday with actions at big box locations in at least 15 cities.

Today's day of action is the largest since Walmart employees walked off the job on Black Friday last year in a national effort to draw attention to the abysmal working conditions at the nation's largest retail employer.

On Monday, Walmart failed to meet a Labor Day deadline for the ongoing demands set by angry employees which called for the retail giant to reinstate workers who have been fired or disciplined for participating in past strikes and to publicly commit to improving wages and working conditions.

“Walmart, we cannot wait any longer for you to do the right thing for American workers. Our jobs should not be at risk when we speak out about improvements that would help our families and Walmart customers,” said a Cindy Murray, a Walmart worker who was recently arrested for protesting at Walmart’s DC offices. “Walmart employees like me are not making enough to support our families even though we work at the country’s largest company.”

As the Guardianreports, thousands of workers and their supporters were expected in Thursday's actions which include a march in Los Angeles and a rally outside the Four Seasons hotel in San Francisco where Marissa Mayer, Yahoo! CEO and Walmart board member, has a penthouse apartment.

Several arrests of Walmart employees were reported in New York Thursday morning, after the workers attempted to deliver a petition to the New York headquarters of Williams Capital Group, whose chairman, Christopher Williams, is a Walmart board member.

According to one of the campaign groups who helped organize the protests, Making Change at Walmart, the megastore has illegally disciplined nearly 80 workers since June. Additionally, the union-backed Walmart-workers group OUR Walmart has filed more than 100 Unfair Labor Practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against the store over recent months.

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Further

Lookit These Kids Redux: Over 200 kids in Pennsylvania who defied their school's ban on joining last week's nationwide walkout transformed their ostensible punishment into Civil Disobedience 101 by turning their detention into a silent, moving sit-in. With the community offering support - and pizza - the #Pennridge 225 linked arms, wore the names of Parkland victims and declared the consequences of their actions "a badge of honor" to show "we’ll stand up for what is right."